CLASH OF THE CCAAThe top performers of the UC San Diego track and field team will make their way to the 2013 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championships, where they will spend three days with the purpose of extending their season on Al Brenda Track at Warrior Stadium, located at Cal State Stanislaus. The 100 of the decathlon, the meet’s first overall event, will take place at 10 a.m. Sophomore Veronica Bradley will kick off the conference championships for UCSD by competing in the heptathlon, which starts at 11 a.m. with the 100 hurdles. The meet’s first day will conclude with the 400 of the decathlon at 3:15 p.m. Bradley’s final event of the heptathlon’s first day will be the 200, starting at 2:15 p.m.

Friday’s slate of competitions commences at 10 a.m., when both the decathlon’s 110 hurdles and the women’s hammer throw mark the beginning of combined events and field events, respectively, for that day. Signifying the start of the heptathlon's second day will be the long jump portion at 11 a.m. The final event of the heptathlon will be the 800 at 1:15 p.m., while the 1500 will be the 10th and final portion of the decathlon at 4:10 p.m. The men's shot put will be Friday's closing field event at 7 p.m. The day’s plethora of prelim heats will get underway at 4 p.m. with the women’s 3000 steeplechase. Only two track-related finals will be run on Friday, including the women’s 10000 at 8:15 p.m. and the men’s 10000, which will cap off the day at 9 p.m.

The women’s discus throw will be the first of nine field events on Saturday at 11 a.m., while the last field event of the meet, the men’s triple jump, will be held at 3:30 p.m. On the track, there will be 22 running finals on Saturday. The first of those will be for the women’s 3000 steeplechase, which will be slated for a 1:30 p.m. start time. The starting gun of the men’s 4x400 relay will be fired at 5:45 p.m. and will be followed by the Awards Ceremony at 6:10 p.m.

TAKING ON THE CONFERENCEBoth the Triton men and women will challenge teams from Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State East Bay, Cal State L.A., Cal State Stanislaus, Chico State and Humboldt State. The women will face additional competition from Cal State Dominguez Hills and San Francisco State.

LAST YEAR IN LOS ANGELESThe Tritons did very well at the 2012 CCAA Championships, taking second place on the women’s side for the third year in a row with a score of 146.5 points while the men finished in third place for the second straight year after racking up 114 total points. Among returners, sophomore Sabrina Pimentel earned CCAA Freshman of the Year, which she earned mostly due to her second-place showing in the 800 with a time of 2:16.52. Pimentel previously won her 800 prelim heat with a time of 2:16.46. In addition, junior Lorato Anderson finished fifth in the finals of the 800 (2:19.32). Senior Jessica Miklaski was the runner-up in the women’s javelin, throwing 138’11”, and junior Aletha Vassilakis took fourth (131’5”). UCSD also claimed four of the top six finishers in the 400 hurdles, including junior Lauren Irish (1:01.83, 4th) and senior Raquel Ormsby (1:03.74, 6th). Bradley cleared a height of 5’3” for a share of third place in the women’s high jump, while sophomore Chantia Justice nabbed ninth place in the triple jump (36’0.25”).

For the men, sophomore Nash Howe was the second-place finisher in the javelin throw, hitting 199’1”. Senior Quentin McWhorter leaped a personal-best length of 47’05.25” in the triple jump to place second overall and move to fourth on UCSD’s all-time top 10 list for that event. In the men’s discus throw, seniors Zach Nagengast (154’1”) and Matt Endler (147’8”) settled for second and sixth, respectively. On the track, sophomore Keith Rose ran to a time of 10.85 in the 100 to finish fifth overall and clocked in at 21.59 in the 200 for a fourth-place showing. Rose had prelim times of 10.78 and 21.73 in those respective events.

TRITON WOMEN HIT DOUBLE DIGITS IN PROVISIONALSSenior Uchenna Agbahiwe earned an NCAA Division II provisional qualifier mark on April 26 at the Triton Invitational with her personal-record throw of 146’7” in the women’s discus throw open competition for a seventh-place showing overall. The Bellflower native moved to eighth on the Tritons’ all-time top 10 list for that event while acquiring the UCSD women’s 10th provisional mark this season. Agbahiwe’s mark entered the provisional list at No. 21.

PIMENTEL WINS CCAA TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEKBecoming the second UCSD woman and the fourth Triton this season to receive the honor, Pimentel earned the CCAA Track Athlete of the Week Award for the week of April 22-28 on April 29. Hailing from Westminster, Pimentel broke the tape of the 800 with a time of 2:11.51. She also started from the blocks of the women’s 4x400 relay team, which included sophomore Ellexi Snover, senior Chelsey Kamson and Irish, to help the group to a second-place result and a time of 3:51.15 at the Triton Invitational on April 27. Her best 800 this season with a time of 2:10.90 is the 12th-best at the national level and occurred at the 27th Annual Pomona-Pitzer Invitational, where she finished in second place on April 13. In comparison, Pimentel’s season-best mark of 55.95 in the 400, which she earned in a win at the Soka Peace Invitational on April 20, is tied for 27th overall nationally. Including the seven accumulated by the men, UCSD has earned 17 provisional marks this season.

ADVANTAGE ANDERSONIn the women’s 800, Anderson finished fifth after running a career-best time of 2:12.80 to improve her provisional mark and strengthen her grasp of the No. 4 position on UCSD’s all-time top 10 list in that event. With her performance, Anderson moved to the No. 29 slot in Division II for the 800, jumping 10 slots from her previous season-best. Anderson also led off the women’s 4x400 relay team of Ormsby, freshman Sara Graber and freshman Corinne Hinkle to a fourth-place finish of 4:03.30.

SAY IT IS SO, SATOFreshman Kristin Sato won the women’s triple jump with a leap measuring 39’4.5” at the Triton Invitational on April 27. Sato and Pimentel were the only UCSD student-athletes to win events at the Triton Invitational. The Milpitas native has a top mark of 39’6” in the triple jump this season, which she earned in a fourth-place finish at the Cal-Nevada Championships on March 30, placing her in a tie for 15th in Division II.

NAGENGAST NEARS CLOSER TO THE TOPMoving up six slots to 17th on the provisional list for Division II, Nagengast threw the discus a lifetime-best distance of 169’4” on April 27 at the Triton Invitational during the men’s discus throw open to come in 14th place. Nagengast additionally has the 18th-best provisional mark in the men’s hammer throw, which he earned at the 35th Aztec Invitational on March 16 upon throwing 185’0” to take third place overall.

LIBUIT CLOSES INRedshirt senior Kiley Libuit bettered his provisional mark with a throw of 198’4” at the Triton Invitational on April 27 to finish ninth in the men’s javelin. Libuit has the 15th-longest throw in Division II this season.

HEREDIA PACES THE MENSenior Anthony Heredia earned the UCSD men’s top finish at the Triton Invitational on April 27 with his runner-up showing in the 1500. Heredia crossed the finish line at 3:58.63.

GET YOUR GEAR HERETriton Athletics is excited about its partnership with Advanced-Online which provides a web-based, on-demand option for UCSD apparel and merchandise. Fans now have access to over 600 products that can be processed and shipped within 24 hours. Advanced-Online also offers special-event and championship gear. Access the site at UCSDtritonsgear.com.

SOCIALLY PROFICIENT There are now more ways than ever to follow the Tritons. You've always got UCSDtritons.com at your fingertips, but our social media scene continues to grow. Get instant updates on Twitter (@UCSDtritons) and like us on Facebook (UCSDtritons). For a more visual approach, watch our YouTube channel. For all things UCSD track and field, be sure to follow @UCSDXC.